Information for parents of kids in Mandarin immersion education

In Canada they line up for French immersion

Are their wait pools for Mandarin immersion programs across the country? In San Francisco we’re usually able to get most families who sign up in, though they often have to wait until the actual start of school, which is pretty harrowing. Down the peninsula, the Mandarin programs are routinely full, I’m told. What happens in your school? Please post below.﻿﻿

Lineups for French immersion classes

Parents camped out at Glen Elementary this week as they tried to secure a spot for their kids in the school’s French immersion kindergarten class.

Assistant superintendent Sylvia Russell said the Coquitlam school has limited space so it will likely have only one French immersion kindergarten class next year.

“It’s a bit of a problem for us because we just have too many kids living in that catchment area for French and English to be able to put them all into that beautiful brand new building,” Russell said Tuesday.

“It just doesn’t fit all of them, so there’s a little bit of an adjustment that probably needs to go on there in terms of the boundaries.”

A first-come, first-served registration system is currently in place, but the school district might switch to a lottery draw for French immersion kindergarten next year at Glen Elementary — as well as at other high-demand schools such as Panorama and Glenayre.